


The Man Who Sold The World

by papi_chulo



Series: Battle of the Gangs [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Hyrda, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, S.H.I.E.L.D - Freeform, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-04-16 22:12:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papi_chulo/pseuds/papi_chulo
Summary: Clint Barton is one of S.H.I.E.L.D's most valued assets and when an undercover mission comes up, the paramilitary organisation can't risk sending him straight into HYDRA's hands. Yet the take down of HYDRA can't happen unless an agent can go in and bring them down from the inside, so they send in Pietro Maximoff.Pietro Maximoff is a member of a small team of people who carry out various operations in return for a cash amount and surely if they're paid enough they'd be willing to send a member into HYDRA. But the old man who's assigned to work with Pietro on this mission is completely unbearable.(or, the fic where Age of Ultron completely ruined me emotionally because Pietro Maximoff deserved so much and he didn't get it so I create an entire au so that he can live and fall in love with Clint Barton like he should've in the movie)- part of my Battle of the Gangs verse where all the books are related in some way and feature aspects of the other books in the verse however you can read this one without reading any others





	1. Welcome to the Jungle

**Author's Note:**

> so, this is another fic in my Battle of the Gangs verse. like i said in the summary even though everything is within the same universe each book can be read individually. some characters and events will overlap from other books but it will not affect your reading experience if you haven't read them. this is however the first of many marvel centred books i plan to write in this verse so if you're a fan then keep an eye out for those as they pop up
> 
> in this S.H.I.E.L.D isn't like a government thing, it's more of a private military thing - almost like a gang but more professional and all that stuff, same with HYDRA, so they aren't affiliated with the US govt at all. i don't really want to explain too much, i'll let the book do that for itself.

Clint grunted as he adjusted the tripod that had his rifle mounted on top, lowering it until he could comfortably look through the scope whilst lying on his stomach. He took a look through the scope, scanning over the outpost to look for any immediate threats before speaking up.

“Front’s all clear Nat, make your way in.” He said. 

He made sure to make another quick sweep over the area to make sure he was right, but honestly there was no need. He never missed a thing.

“Alright, I’m heading in. Cover me.” Natasha’s voice came through on his comms, slightly crackly and faint due to the distance between them but that wasn’t a concern. The woman could damn well handle herself. 

They were back in Afghanistan, again, infiltrating yet another HYDRA outpost in the hopes of gathering some intel on whatever it was they were doing out here. Luckily this outpost was mainly made up of a few small buildings meaning there wouldn’t be many soldiers operating in the area and this mission would breeze by rather quickly. Clint was stationed on the roof of a building opposite the outpost, it looked to be an abandoned home or something like that. The residents probably fled the second HYDRA had occupied the area, leaving the building behind for snipers like Clint to use to their advantage. 

In hindsight, the soldiers within the outpost should’ve realised this and stationed a guy or two on this building but oh well, the brunette wasn’t complaining as it only made his job easier; although he wouldn’t turn down a challenge if it presented itself, the only thing is HYDRA don’t seem to be making anything a challenge. Over the past week Nat and he had been able to infiltrate multiple outposts and gain valuable intel, just like what they were doing today. 

Looking through the scope he spotted a guy ahead of Nat, completely oblivious to her walking up behind him.

“You want me to take him out?” Clint asked.

“No, I’ve got it. Save your suppressor.” Nat answered with a whisper, keeping her voice low so she didn’t draw any unnecessary attention to herself.

Clint watched as she came up behind the guy, wrapping one arm tightly around his neck and the other coming up to get a good grip on his hair. The red-head yanked the guy backwards, quickly dragging him around the corner of the building so that they were out of sight from any of the other soldiers. 

“Talk.” She ordered, her voice taking on a harsh edge, enough to make any man cry. Seriously, Clint did not want to be on the receiving end of that voice, her glare alone was deadly enough and he’d seen that a couple times.

Whatever the man said didn’t pick up very well on Nat’s comms; Clint could only pick up on a few words here and there that were in Russian but judging from how Nat’s arm tightened around his neck, choking him out until he passed out, the sharpshooter just assumed that Nat had found out what she needed.

“Files are in that big building up ahead.” The woman said and Clint moved his rifle so he could check over the building.

It was the only building in the outpost with a second floor and there were a few guys stationed on both levels. None of them were heavily armed and he knew straight away that   
Nat could probably get in and out without any of them even knowing she was there.

“Alright, there’re two guys upstairs that I can see on the balcony and two on the ground. You can probably get past the ones on the ground; want me to take out the two upstairs?”   
He informed her, moving his rifle back to check on her.

“We’ll see how we go, let me get up there first.” She answered, beginning to move forward towards the building.

Her black catsuit helped her blend into the night and slip past the few guys that were between her and the building. The two guys on the ground were having a conversation,   
thoroughly distracted so that she could make her way up the stairs. One of the guys on the second floor had disappeared around the corner but one of them was stood by a door that led into the building.

“Take him out Nat, the other guy is round the corner.” Clint instructed, making sure he kept an eye on that corner just in case the guy came back around at the wrong moment.

Once the red-head had made it to the top of the stairs, she instantly whipped an arm around the guy’s throat, much like she’d done with the first guard, and her other hand over his mouth, just in case he made any noise. Unlike before though she didn’t waste any time interrogating him, she just quickly tightened her arm until the man went limp before dragging him backwards into the building. 

Just as she disappeared from sight the other guy came back round the corner and Clint spoke up, “Look out, other guard just rounded the corner.” 

“Take him out.” Nat whispered.

Clint followed her orders, focusing on the guy’s head through his scope before firing just before the guy reached the door that led into the building. He adjusted the rifle again to check on the two men downstairs, making sure they hadn’t heard any noise. They hadn’t moved at all, still stuck in the conversation they were having with each other. 

Clint scoffed. Useless.

With the way HYDRA defended their outposts it’s a wonder S.H.I.E.L.D hadn’t managed to take them down yet.

“You’ve got time now Nat, get everything.” Clint said.

“There’s a lot here, more than we thought.” Nat replied.

Clint frowned, “Like what?” 

“Blueprints, maps, soldiers’ documents.” She explained and Clint could hear the faint rustling of paper as she collected everything together. 

“Shit, just grab it all.” The man shrugged even though his partner couldn’t see him.

Clint went back to do one final sweep over the outpost. The men downstairs were still having that conversation – honestly, whatever they were talking about must be damn   
interesting – the guy Nat had taken out earlier was still passed out in an elegant slump at the front of the outpost and the guy on the balcony was undoubtedly dead. 

At the sudden sound of a rumbling engine Clint looked up, the lights from a car blinding him momentarily. The car was pulling up to the front of the outpost and two soldiers climbed out from it.

“Nat, a car just pulled up. They’re gonna find the first guy passed out so get out of there quick.” He warned his partner before moving to pack up his stuff. 

He had to get out of there too, the second the guards spotted that dead body they’d know there was a sniper in the area and he’d get found. Nat could handle her escape by herself; he’d seen the woman do a lot greater things than that. 

Once his rifle was secured he jumped down the back of the building, landing on the ground in a deep squat before jogging away from the outpost with a slight crouch to make himself slightly less visible. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Nat leaving the building and sneaking away out the back of the outpost, heading in the same direction as him towards the rendezvous point. 

After enough distance had been put between him and the outpost, he slowed down and stood up fully, waiting for his partner to catch up with him before saying, “Did you get everything?” 

“I’m taking that question as an insult, you should know by now that I’m good at my job.” She replied but the slight smirk on her face let Clint know she was just messing with him and he wasn’t actually in any danger.

“Ah, how could I forget? You’re the best.” He corrected himself.

“Damn straight.” The red-head nodded before pulling out her droid and checking their co-ordinates, “Alright, here we are.” 

They stopped walking in the middle of a large expanse of dry land, no one around but them as they waited for their chopper. 

“Nat?” He spoke up again.

She looked up at him, not replying but letting him know he had her attention.

“There isn’t a thing damn straight about you.” Clint joked before laughing at what he had said.

He supposed he deserved that slap to the back of his head.

* * *

Clint hadn’t even been given a chance to shower before the Intel Team pulled Nat and him into a meeting about the files. Sitting in his chair all he could smell was his own sweat and frankly it was disgusting. How everyone else in the room thought this was so important that they couldn’t let him have five minutes to shower first was beyond him. It would make the whole thing a lot more pleasant, he wouldn’t have to sit there feeling gross, everyone else wouldn’t have to sit around and smell how bad he smelt. It would’ve been a win-win situation if they’d just let him shower. But currently it was a lose-lose as that damn shower had been ripped away from him.

Somehow Nat still managed to look stunning even though she’d been the one doing most of the work in the mission but by this point Clint had gotten used to that and just decided he would forever be the ugly one in this partnership. Although, Nat could make anyone feel ugly so he supposed it wasn’t too bad. 

“Right, where do we start?” The head of the Intel Team began, a young boy barely out of college whose name he hadn’t bothered to learn yet. He would do it if he found the time one day but today was not that day.

“Preferably near the end.” Clint muttered and next to him another member of the team snorted. Nat glared at him and he had no idea how she heard that from the other end of the table but that was probably one of those mysteries about his fellow agent that he’d never get to the bottom of.

“These blueprints are just crazy, I mean, the weapons these guys are trying to make are just unbelievable. With their tech I doubt they’d ever be able to pull it off but ambition is always great I suppose.” The young boy rambled on and on about blueprints and something to do with the maps and how different areas had been circled. 

To be completely honest, Clint couldn’t give less of a shit about the blueprints or the maps or whatever. He was more interested in what was in the files they had actually been sent there to retrieve, surely if their mission was to retrieve those specific files then the good stuff would be in there. So he was quite happy to just zone out until they got to those files and then he might pay a little bit more attention. 

That plan backfired slightly when he only zoned back in when they were talking about undercover operations and infiltrating HYDRA.

“Wait, hold on, what are we talking about?” Clint asked, sitting up slightly in his seat.

The young boy at the head of the table sighed before saying, “We need someone to go undercover in HYDRA so that we can get more intel. As good as these files are that we’re getting from breaking into outposts it’s not going to be enough when it comes to bringing down HYDRA.” 

“Oh right, I’ll go undercover.” Clint shrugged, volunteering like it was nothing.

“No, you won’t.” Natasha spoke up, pointing a finger at him.

“Why not?” Clint frowned, looking at her in confusion.

“Because we’re not just going to send one of our best agents undercover in an incredibly dangerous environment.” The boy answered in place of Natasha.

Clint took that opportunity to glare at the boy, something he’d wanted to do for the past however long he’d been sat in this room, “Let her answer, kid.”

“No Clint, he’s right. We can’t just send you straight in there when you’re one of our biggest assets. Also, no offense, but I don’t think you’re exactly HYDRA material.” Nat said and the kid got a smug look on his face when she backed him up.

“Well if it’s not me then who else is it gonna be?” Clint threw his hands up, asking it as an open question to everyone in the room.

“Um, I think I might know who we can send in.” A timid girl stuck her hand up in the air slightly as she spoke, as if she was still in school and wasn’t allowed to call out the answer without raising her hand.

Everyone in the room looked at her, intrigued to see what she was going to bring to the table and Clint was sure that whatever it was he was still going to be the better option for the undercover agent.

“There’s this group of people, only three of them I think but they’re kind of guns for hire. Loads of people use them and they don’t turn down jobs based on their personal opinion of a company, they take all sorts of jobs. They’ll do heists, recon, act as bodyguards, anything as long as you pay them. I know it’s not the best of options but they’re good at what they do and if we don’t want to send in one of our own then it’s the next best thing.” The girl explained, looking down at her hands as she spoke, clearly she was nervous about presenting this idea.

“We can’t just pay some criminals to do a job for us.” The Intel boy immediately argued.

“Maybe we can.” Clint spoke up, “What else do you know about them?” 

“Well...” The girl began.

* * *

Pietro took a last glance over the submachine gun he was holding in his hands before pulling the ski mask down over his face, covering everything but his mouth and eyes and jumping out of the back of the black van. 

“Are you ready, brother?” His sister’s voice came from behind him, followed by the sound of her feet hitting the ground as she too jumped out of the van.

“That is a stupid question. I’m always ready.” He replied, a signature smirk on his face. 

“You’re too cocky kid.” Another pair of feet hitting the ground.

“You aren’t cocky enough, Barnes.” Pietro retorted, turning around to face his team. 

It was just the three of them, and their getaway driver, Wade. There was no need to anyone else, the team worked perfectly. Bucky offered cover from a distance, often taking up a sniper position when needed or joining the rest of them on the ground if it was a smaller task; Wanda had this crazy way of getting into people’s minds, when they were interrogating she could get an answer out of anybody; Pietro was fast, really fast, he could case a whole building in a minute and his quick approach was a necessity when it came to their heist missions. 

Wade didn’t really offer much except for reckless driving and crude humour but he was a nice morale booster, especially if a job had gone awry, although, that never really happened because they were so damn good at what they do. That’s why they get paid what they get paid. 

“Alright, remember what we’re here to do, get in, grab the cash and get out. Wanda, head in through the front, keep the guards’ attention there so Pietro can slip in through the side. Pietro, you just do what you do best, crack the safe and take the money. I’ll get up on the balcony and cover you from up there. Wade, I’ll let you know when we’re on our way out. Do not shoot unless absolutely necessary.” Bucky explained, going over the plan once again even though he’d just done it in the van, and before they left the safe house, and yesterday when they were at lunch. Pietro tried to listen but honestly he’d heard this plan enough by now, he knew what he was doing. 

As long as he got in and got the money then his part was done, the rest came down to the other members of the team. That’s why they worked, everyone had their own part to do but all the singular parts would come together to make a flawless mission. 

“I’ll just be here, waiting, like I always do. You guys just go ahead and do all the fun stuff.” Wade’s voice came from within the van. The man must’ve turned on the radio or put a cassette in the player because all Pietro could hear in the background was the sound of Ol’ Dirty Bastard rapping.

Wanda left first so she could head to the front door of the club and cause a distraction, leaving Bucky and Pietro behind waiting for their cue. Pietro watched on as his sister began talking to the guards, he wasn’t sure what about but he also wasn’t sure if he wanted to know so he refrained from putting the comms equipment in his ear just yet. 

“How much do we think is in the safe?” The silver-haired man asked, making conversation with Bucky until he had to leave to do his part.

“Well, Asgard said there’s gonna be around 250k but when Wanda and Wade cased the place the other week it seemed like there’s more in there than that. We’ll give Thor the 250 but any extra you grab we’ll keep as a tip.” Bucky said, readjusting his grip on his SMG. It was the same model as Pietro’s but fitted with a scope on top and a red-dot sight so the brunette could offer cover from above. 

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.” Pietro answered and turned back to look at Wanda and the guards, who were sufficiently distracted now, and decided it was time for him to make a move. 

“See you on the other side, kid.” Bucky slapped him on the shoulder as he began moving at the same time, heading down one of the side alleys to find a way up onto the balcony of the nightclub. 

Pietro fixed the comms in his ear and tapped it a couple of times before he began to hear his sister’s voice in his ear and Jesus, he’d never get used to hearing her flirting with people even if it was for a mission. In all honesty it was probably the only drawback of this job. 

He began heading down another side alley that would lead him to the back of the club. He moved lightly though, not heading to quickly yet as he wasn’t sure whether there’d be a guard there or not. That was the one issue with this club, when they’d been casing the place sometimes there was a guard out back and then sometimes there wasn’t; there was seemingly no pattern to it either and if he had to take a guess he’d say that the guards just stood out there when they couldn’t be fucked to actually do their job. 

It was just his luck that as he rounded the corner he spotted a guard stood out by the back door but due to the dark outfit he wore for missions the guard hadn’t noticed him yet. He kept close to the wall as he moved, slowly edging closer to the guard until he was close enough that he could hit the guy in the temple with the barrel of his gun. The guy fell to the ground with nothing more than a grunt and Pietro had to step over his unconscious body to get to the door. 

Shaking the handle slightly, he determined that it was locked and pulled the lock pick set out of his pocket. It wasn’t anything special, no fancy tools or anything like that, just the basics but it had been with him since he was a teenager when he was breaking into houses to find food and money for Wanda and him. Lock picking was like second nature to him by now so it only took a moment, nothing that would slow down the mission at all. 

He slipped through the door and let it shut behind him before heading down the hallway that he had stepped into, walking in a slight crouch. If the floor plan of the club they had found was right then the main office was just down this hall and to the left but he noticed there was an open door down the hallway that he’d have to be careful of. 

“I’m in, heading to the office now.” He whispered, loud enough that it would be picked up by Bucky and Wanda through their comms but not loud enough that it would carry down the hallway.

“There might be some people wanderin’ round back there, I overheard some people talking about a poker game tonight.” Bucky replied.

“I’ll be careful.” Pietro responded before he reached the door, stopping to peek around it. Sure enough, there was a poker game going on. A couple guys were sat down around the table and a few more were stood around watching the game. The men stood up were in a close enough huddle that Pietro was pretty sure he’d be able to pass by the door without anyone inside spotting him. Figuring he’d just take his chances, he quickly headed forward; not stopping once he’d passed the door and rounded the corner to the left. 

Due to the lack of noise behind him he assumed he’d made it safely and kept heading forwards to the end of this hall where there was a door that definitely led to the main office. As he stood up in front of the door, it began opening and not knowing what else to do, he moved slightly so he was stood behind the door in the corner of the hallway. Two men stepped out of the office and began walking away as they passed by him he grabbed the door to stop it from completely closing. Despite the close call, it saved him the job of having to mess around with hacking the card reader to open the door. 

He slipped into the office and closed the door behind him, heading up a set of stairs into the main room where one wall was made up completely of glass windows. He made sure to keep out of the way of those windows as he walked over to the safe at the back of the room, sitting down to start cracking it. 

“I’m inside the club now, I couldn’t keep talking to those guards they’d know something was up.” Wanda spoke up. 

“It’s fine sister, I’m in the office.” Pietro responded, still focusing on the safe. 

“Shit, Loki’s out front.” Bucky said, sounding slightly alarmed.

“He’s supposed to be in L.A!” Pietro exclaimed, stopping what he was doing with his hands as he sat up to glance out of the windows.

“Keep cracking the safe, I’ll try to distract him.” Wanda instructed.

“Be careful.” Bucky replied.

Pietro went back to the safe, now hurrying with what he was doing. What the fuck was that guy doing here?! He wasn’t supposed to be back in New York for another week. Someone must’ve tipped him off on what was going on, that’s the only way. But the only people who knew about this job were his team and the higher-ups of Asgard and none of them would’ve said anything.

Shit! 

The click of the safe was a slight relief to Pietro as his sister’s voice came over the comms again, this time talking to Loki and though Pietro couldn’t hear what the main was saying in response, Wanda’s giggling made it clear that she had been successful in striking up a conversation with the new Jotunheim leader. 

Pietro snorted at that, his sister didn’t giggle; she just didn’t so hearing it when she was distracting people was just brilliant. It was a sign that she was putting on that sweet girl image that men would fall for every single time when it came from her. 

He quickly started stuffing the cash in the safe into the duffle bag that he had slung over his shoulder, not even bothering to pull it off of him before he began filling it up, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible. There was definitely way more than $250k in here, damn; he was going to buy himself a nice ass Rolex with the extra they got from this. 

The safe was emptied in less than a minute, and he was up on his feet and kicking the safe door closed before he even zipped up the bag. He decided to shove his gun in the bag too before zipping it closed, that way if he did get stopped in the hallway he wouldn’t immediately get shot at. 

Taking the steps two at a time he said, “I’m leaving the office now, safe’s empty.”

“Good, heading back to the van now.” Bucky responded. 

Pietro could still hear his sister flirting with Loki and good God, it was awful. 

As he stepped out of the office he began walking down the hallway, not even bothering to be quiet or incognito about it this time, that would just make it take longer. The door to the room with the poker game was shut now but even if it was still open Pietro would’ve just walked past it, he doubted the poker players were that much of a threat. 

“He’s heading into the back now; I couldn’t hold him any longer.” Wanda warned, “I’m going out front.” 

Pietro heard Loki’s voice getting closer and closer as he made his way to the back door to leave the club. He looked to his right to see the black-haired man entering the long hallway, flanked by two armed bodyguards as he pushed open the back door.

The squeak of the door’s hinges caused Loki to look over at him and Pietro just winked before leaving. Once he was outside he didn’t stop, he just took off running as he hopped over the guard’s still unconscious body, heading down the side alley that led towards the van and he could hear the door of the club open behind him and some yelling as Loki’s bodyguards clearly came across the other guard.

The back doors of the van were thrown open and Wanda and Bucky were already inside when he ran and jumped in, landing on his ass on the floor of the van. The two guards appeared in the alley as Wade stepped on the accelerator, the wheels of the van screeching against the concrete slightly before they pulled away. Pietro leaned forward to pull the doors shut just as the guards were pulling out handguns from the holsters on their hips. 

A couple bullets put holes into the back of the van but that stopped once Wade pulled them round a hard corner and out onto the main street, merging in with the cars that were already on the road. 

As Pietro began laughing in relief, he could hear his sister join in, her laugh almost harmonising with his own as Bucky joined in as well. He led down and put his hands behind his head, looking up at Wanda and smiling at her and the mischievous twinkle that was in her eye.

Man, he fucking loved his job.


	2. Scouting the Port

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i started writing this chapter a while ago and hated it so in a fit of rage i deleted it and decided to procrastinate by playing gta. then as i was playing a mission this idea hit me so i just wrote it all out in the space of like 30 minutes. basically what i'm trying to say is this whole chapter came from a gta mission and pietro's characterisation here is completely inspired by trevor from gta v.
> 
> speaking of, i'm planning a somewhat gta-esque au which will probably end up being a frostiron. it's just a little something that i'll have on the side so that if i ever get writer's block in my battle of the gangs verse i'll have something else to write so i don't just stop writing entirely
> 
> i didn't proofread this at all so it should be fine but there may be some random words in places they dont belong, i will go and edit this at some point but i just wanted to write it and post it before the inspiration faded
> 
> pretty dialogue heavy chapter so apologies there but hopefully you enjoy anyway :D

Pietro stepped out of the white van and slammed the door shut before pulling the door on the side open so he could reach in and yank out the duffel bag he’d put in there earlier. He swung it over his shoulder and slid the door shut, looking down at the keys in his hand to lock the van as he began to walk away. He shoved a hand in his pocket and exchanged those keys for the other set he had on him that would open the door to his sister’s apartment.

As he walked up the stairs that led towards the door he could hear the distinct sound of yelling from two men; probably his sister’s boyfriend, Vision, and Wade having it out again. The whole crew had been trying to get Vision on side to help out with their newest score but God damn, the man wasn’t having any of it. Honestly, if this kept up he was going to have to take Wanda aside and have a serious talk with her because he would not stand by and just let her date such a damn square. It’s not as if they were asking him to rob a liquor store with them, they just needed some intel from him and the man would not give in.

“And Pietro is...” Wade’s voice trailed off from inside the apartment.

Pietro unlocked the door and stepped through, both parties inside having no idea he’d come in.

“Pietro! Pietro is a-“ Vision cut himself off as he spotted Pietro coming towards them.

“Pietro is a what?” The silver-haired man asked, suddenly very curious about what the older man was going to say.

“Pietro is a good guy.” Wade began, “And he’s like family, isn’t that right Vision?”

Vision hurriedly backed up before saying, “Right right, yeah, like family...” He trailed off.

Pietro raised an eyebrow, waiting for the man to continue as he stepped closer to the blonde man.

“But the thing is, um, I haven’t been with that many women. I don’t find it easy and, Wanda, I really like her so-“ Vision waffled, stuttering and stammering his way through as if Pietro’s very presence was enough to shake him up.

“Oh, that’s beautiful.” Pietro smirked, continuing to walk closer to Vision as the other man seemingly just kept backing away.

“I’m not very comfortable with all the criminality and I don’t want to mess things up between us but I-“ The blonde man cut himself off, sighing slightly, “I haven’t got a very big penis.”

The sudden switch of direction in this conversation was enough to shock Pietro into standing still, stopping his journey towards Vision and Vision stopped backing up. He wasn’t really sure what the older man was trying to get at, the last thing he wanted was to have a serious conversation with his sister’s boyfriend about the size of their dicks but if it’s what he had to do to get this intel then God damn he would get his own cock out if he had to.

“Well, show me.” Pietro instructed.

“What?” Vision frowned in confusion, suddenly looking quite scared too.

“Show me.” Pietro repeated.

“I don’t really want to.” The other man looked so uncomfortable that Pietro almost felt sorry for him but alas, this intel was _very_ important.

Pietro huffed, looking out the window for a second before his hands went to his jeans and undid the button and zip, yanking them down along with his boxers.

“Mine isn’t nothing special,” He started, holding his hands out in a ‘ta-dah’, “but this boy gets the job done.”

Vision averted his gaze, looking away at the ceiling as Pietro took a step closer. At this point he was pretty sure that making the man uncomfortable was the key here so he just decided to go all the way.

“Now, Wanda told me you work at the docks.” He said, not even making a move to try and pull his jeans back up.

“Um, yes.” Vision muttered.

“Look at me!” Pietro ordered, getting even closer to the man.

“Can you just, um, put your guy away?” Vision asked.

“Oh, Jesus.” Pietro murmured under his breath, finally bending down to pull his jeans back up.

If only Vision knew that that had made him just as uncomfortable as it had made the blonde man.

“Is there anything at the docks for a man like me?” Pietro questioned, raising his eyebrows.

“Well, uh, I don’t know.” Vision said, finally looking at Pietro again though it seemed like he couldn’t quite manage to look the younger man in the eye again quite yet. Although Pietro wasn’t too sure if he had ever looked him in the eye, “What kind of person are you?”  


“Oh I’m that kind of person, Vision.” He said in a suggestive tone and he was pretty sure that was the first time he’d said the man’s name out loud. Now that he thought about it, it was a damn weird name. Sure Pietro was a weird one but that was just because he was from Russia and it was a Russian name, Vision was just straight up weird. Honestly, who gives birth and thinks ‘yes, I will name my child Vision.’

“Now,” Pietro began without giving Vision a chance to respond, “let’s get me, you, Wade and that little guy down there,” Pietro pointed towards Visions junk, “to put these on.” He hoisted the duffel bag onto the coffee table in the centre of the room and unzipped it, pulling out some high-vis jackets.

“We are going for a ride.” He said.

*    *    *

 

Back in the van, Pietro was still relatively uncomfortable that he’d just whipped out his dick in front of Wade and Vision. In hindsight it was probably a bad idea and he’d most definitely be hearing from Wanda about self-control at a later date but for now he was just glad that it had worked in getting Vision to come with them to the docks.

“So, Vision, what’ve you got for us?” Wade spoke up from where he’d been shoved into the back of the van; there weren’t enough seats for the three of them. Pietro hadn’t anticipated Vision actually coming.

“Like I said, I don’t rightly know what we’ve got. You’re going to have to be more exact in your questioning.” The man replied. He seemed a lot more comfortable now that they were out of the apartment and Pietro’s junk was no longer out on display.

“We’re looking for something to steal.” Pietro spoke up before Wade could say anything weird. That answer was actually quite vague; they knew exactly what they were looking for. Some type of military hardware that was being stored at the docks on a freighter, requested by Loki Laufeyson – the new leader of Jotunheim. Whatever it was, it had to be important because he was paying big.

“I stole a pencil in school and I’ve been regretting it ever since.” Vision said, “Look just tell me what you want and I’ll do my utmost to assist you in finding it.”

“Here’s the problem, I don’t know what I want.” Pietro replied. That bit was partially true, while they knew it was something military they had no idea what it would look like, where it was going to be or how guarded it would be, “It’s a bit like porn, I can’t quite describe it, but I’ll know it when I see it.”

“You aren’t really helping me understand here, Pietro.” Vision frowned, struggling to figure out what Pietro was really talking about.

“Alright, how about this? Two hundred and thirty six billion dollars worth of cargo came through the Port of New York and New Jersey last year.” Pietro began explaining.

“He’s real good with numbers.” Wade decided to butt his way into the conversation.

Pietro figured it was best to just ignore him in hopes of getting Vision to fully co-operate, “I don’t want to hijack a truck full of pineapples. You need to give us the inside track on what’s coming through.”

He finally looked over at Vision to see if he could gather anything from his facial expression. The man just looked more confused.

“We don’t know what’s in the containers. They certainly don’t put price tags on them.” He argued.

“Have you noticed anything? Anything different? Anything that might indicate something...” Pietro trailed off, hoping that might prompt Vision into answering him.

“Well, there have been all these SHIELD soldiers hanging around.” Vision shrugged, as if it didn’t mean anything.

“SHIELD? Private army to the New World Order? The folks raging outsourced shadow wars in twenty countries around the globe and only recently cleared to operate on US soil?” Wade spoke up, sitting forward to push his head through the gap between the two front seats.

“That sounds like them.” Vision nodded.

Now they were getting somewhere. A bunch of soldiers hanging around could only mean one thing and that one thing was that something real valuable was in that port right now. Hopefully, this was what Loki was looking for. That way this would be a damn easy job and it’d be done quickly. Pietro hated working for that guy.

“So there’s a private militia in the port. What are they guarding?” Pietro prompted.

“This one freighter. I guess now that you mention it, it isn’t quite right.” Vision looked down, as if he was only now finally thinking about what it meant that all these soldiers were milling around where he worked.

“A freighter. Great. Can I get on it?” The silver-haired man asked as they entered the port.

“No, they won’t let anyone on it. Actually, they’re kind of assholes about it. The other day my colleague Ralph-“ Pietro cut Vision off before he started talking about something that had absolutely no relevance.

“I don’t give a shit about Ralph. We’ve got to take a look.” He said, making sure that it was clear he was looking at that freighter no matter what.

They pulled up to the barrier that would let them into the main port and the guy operating it looked up at them. Pietro wound down his window and the guy instructed them to, “Park up and get to dispatch.”

They drove off and Pietro frowned, “Well, that was easy. Is it always this easy to get in?”

“Yeah.” Vision responded.

“They don’t check like if you’re actually an employee before you come in or anything?” Wade questioned.

“No, you just drive right in. Dispatch is over there.” The older man pointed over at a small building.

Well, that was good to know, though if he’d been a normal law-abiding citizen then that probably would’ve scared him a little. Surely they should at least check who was going into the ports.

As they pulled up outside the building, Pietro put the van into park and turned off the engine. A man stepped out from the building and began walking down the small set of stairs that led up to it.

“That’s the supervisor, we have to check in.” Vision said.

“Remember, this can go very wrong very fast.” Pietro warned before he got out of the van, followed by Vision. He let Wade out of the back before they went over to talk to the supervisor.

“We’ve had a spillage and I’ve got a slot on the waste clean-up crew in there.” The man spoke up.

Pietro was quick to shove Wade forward. No way was he spending the day cleaning up shit, he had to get this damn intel and he did not trust Wade and Vision to be efficient in getting it on their own. If he was the one who got the intel then he knew it was going to be good.

“There is nothing that Wade here isn’t going to do for a warm meal.” Pietro smiled as he pushed Wade, just to sweeten the deal.

*    *    *

 

Vision wasn’t a very helpful tour guide. He wasn’t being very good at getting them anywhere near the freighter and he did not come all the way here just to spend the day bonding.

“So, do you ever get helicopters flying in and out? You know, those big ones with the crane things that can pick up containers.” Pietro asked, wincing slightly at how awkward and out of place that question sounded. Hopefully, Vision wouldn’t notice and would just answer without a second thought.

“Nope, this is restricted air space right here. Nothing can fly overhead without clearance. They’ll shoot it down if they have to.” Vision informed as they walked through the port.

Shit. That ruined things slightly. If they’d been able to fly in they could probably just pick up the cargo and fly out of there. Sure it’d bring a lot of heat but it’d be a hell of a lot easier than staging a complex heist. At least that way all they would have to do was fight off some SHIELD soldiers and that was that.

“How’s a man in a hurry supposed to get out of this place then?” Pietro complained, mostly to himself but Vision must have heard him because he responded.

“Well, we’ve got a port dredged to fifty feet.”

“What’s the coast guard response like?” Pietro furrowed his brow. Going by sea could work, especially if they could get their hands on submarine.

“Well, they’ve got cutters, forty five foot response vessels, air support... You won’t go much faster than them.” The older man shrugged as he walked around a few containers.

“Maybe I’ll have to saddle you up and ride you down the Hudson.” Pietro chuckled.

“Please don’t.” Vision sounded uncomfortable again; damn this guy could not take a joke. How Wanda is putting up with this guy he’ll never know. “There’s the freighter I told you about.”

The freighter up ahead was massive, easily carrying over one hundred containers and there was no hint to which one contained what they were looking for because the whole freighter was guarded.

He pulled out his phone and tried his hardest to make it look like he was just taking pictures of the view and not the freighter. If he was honest it wasn’t much of a view but whatever, he just needed pictures of the freighter and the guards.

“God, I hope Wade’s okay. What if he doesn’t stick to the plan?” Vision worried.

“Please, he’s on a waste clearance crew. The guy’s never happier than when he’s neck deep in shit.”

There were snipers posted on the top decks of the freighter and some soldiers were milling about the ramp that led onto the ship. There were also some official looking men walking around in suits, most of them talking into a phone rapidly and it all just seemed very off. He quickly fired the photos off to Wanda. She’d analyse them and work out the best approach for the heist when they all returned to her apartment.

“Alright, anything else we need to check out?” He asked, turning back to where Vision had just been standing awkwardly throughout his little photoshoot.

“Well, I can take you down to the warehouse. The soldiers have been standing down around there too.” Vision suggested.

“Perfect, can we take this truck?” Pietro was already climbing into the driver’s side before Vision could answer so the older man just sighed and climbed into the truck too.

*    *    *

 

“They’ve been guarding one of the dry docks, we can take a look at it but no one’s allowed in there.” Vision sighed, looking out the window of the truck. When Pietro looked over at him it looked like the man was contemplating his every life decision, as if he was wondering what had led him up to this moment.

“Normal rules don’t apply to us Vision, we’re going in.” He deadpanned as if it was an obvious fact that he shouldn’t even have to remind the other man of.

“I don’t know. Rules have applied to me my entire life. I like rules.” Vision looked back over at Pietro, as if he was trying to convince him that rules were there for a reason. Pfft, boring.

“And look at you. You’re a failure. You’re dating a woman who’s so obviously out of your league and once she realises that she’s going to leave you, you’ve got a dead end job-“ Pietro was in the middle of listing off all of Vision’s drawbacks when the man cut him off.

“What, dead end? No.” He argued. That was probably the most passionate the man had ever been.

“Vision, it’s dead end.”

“Being a unionized longshoreman is one of the best paying jobs in the country.” Vision said robotically, as if it was a fact he’d memorized for conversations just like this one.

“No one’s jealous of you, they pity you.” Pietro rolled his eyes, “You’re abused by these slave drivers, I mean, I’ve never worked so hard in my life.”

“It’s not so bad. I’ve been doing this for the past ten years, only usually with less of the criminality.” Vision sounded like he was one more sentence away from huffing like a petulant child.

“You’re wasting your life. You’re lucky we turned up when we did.” Pietro winked.

Thankfully, they’d just pulled up outside the warehouse and Vision didn’t have time to respond before the man guarding the barrier jumped up and said, “Hey, hey! You’re not allowed through here. Restricted access.”

Pietro just grabbed a clip board that was lying around in the front of the truck and swung the door open, climbing out and yelling, making sure he really put on his accent, “No English! No understand you!”

“Manifesto say deliver here.” He pushed a finger onto the clipboard as if he was pointing at something when he had no clue what the piece of paper on there actually said.

He began walking forward into the warehouse when another five soldiers appeared from nowhere, running up to push him back and yelling combinations of, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” and “Restricted access!”.

Vision came running up behind him saying, “Hey, hey, hey. The poor man doesn’t speak English, he probably got confused.”

Vision took the clipboard from his hands and said, “He must’ve misread the manifest.”

At this point all the soldiers turned to look at Vision and Pietro took it as his time to leave, but first he ducked into the small building that the soldiers had all ran out of and took a look around for anything that could be important.

Spread out on a table were a bunch of blueprints and maps that Pietro had no idea what they meant but he decided to snatch them up anyway, he’d rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them, before making his big escape. By big escape he meant slipping out of the door as the soldiers were essentially beating up Vision and running back the way they had driven in.

He figured this just meant he’d owe Vision one and let him date his sister. For now.


End file.
